Gakuen Youkai
by DustyB
Summary: Natsume stands back as Mikan is transferred into the dangerous abilities class. Their first mission is to intercept a plot outside of the school to recover an ancient Alice stone, but they discover a major flaw in the plan; it's broken.
1. The First Mission

**Author's Note:**

_So I do not own either of these anime/manga. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfics._

Just a quick note about how the story is set up, it is based on the manga version of Gakuen Alice, and I think this is the anime version of Inu Yasha. Not too sure yet. Just in case, though, if there's anything mentioned in the manga and not in the anime, I'll try my best to add a footnote in for those who've only watched Gakuen Alice before, since the manga got much farther plot-wise.

**Chapter 1: The First Mission**

It had happened so fast she couldn't think. First she'd been with her friends, then in the elementary school principal's office, and next thing she knew, she'd been transferred into the dangerous abilities class. Suddenly, she'd not only been condemned to what seemed like the worst possible fate in the twisted academy she'd been deceived into loving for all its outer enchanting novelty, but she found herself officially bearing two Alices: nullification and stealing.

For Mikan Sakura, the last few days had not only been mentally and emotionally exhausting, but physically demanding as well. Not one day after being switched into the dangerous abilities class, she found herself sent away on her first mission.

So now here she was, crouched beneath a table as fire ate away at the paper walls of the old-fashioned Japanese home they'd invaded. Air choked with thick, black smoke writhed as someone slashed at it with a weak wind Alice. Her eyes stung as she peeked around the table, trying to find Natsume. He was the only one who'd made it into the room with her.

"Get down!"

Mikan didn't hesitate as she ducked back behind the table at Natsume's order, a small yelp escaping her lips as a blast of wind knocked the table back, sending her sprawling beneath it. She'd caught a glimpse of the battle that was literally bringing down the house around their ears. It was fire versus wind, the latter on the ground but still fighting. In the back of the room, though, was their target. Like them, the target was a child, and she held a scroll tight to her chest as the rest of her library burned down around her. She was the person they needed to get to, the young time-tripper. The girl had her eyes squeezed shut in concentration. Time was running out.

_In the past,_ The principal had said, devious as always as he stood with Persona at his right side, _there was no such thing as an Alice. The people were stupid and ignorant, calling it magic or spiritual power. I have found legend of a certain stone which lore details as a jewel, but I know it for what it is: an Alice stone. Someone is trying to get to it first and bring it to the present. Capture the time-tripper responsible and bring this Alice stone to me.  
_

With a small gasp of pain, Mikan lifted herself up, pushing the table off of her as best she could. She'd never felt so useless in her life. She couldn't use her nullification because they needed to get to the time-tripper as she escaped into the past to get the jewel for her master. However, every second their enemy had access to their Alice was another second Natsume spent on the counter attack, and his body was weak enough as it was. She needed to help him, couldn't let him get any more hurt. She couldn't let anyone hurt him anymore.

She was wobbly, but she got to her feet, coughing on the smoke as she raised her head and falling to her knees. No, no she had to do this. She couldn't let him do this all alone. She needed to help him. With a sudden burst of stubborn strength, she propelled herself across the room, focusing on her Alice. Nullification. No more fighting. She didn't want any more fighting. That was why she was there, wasn't it?

"Mikan!"

She didn't turn back as Natsume called her name. Instead, she pushed past the wind Alice, who was bewildered to find his Alice gone and too stunned for a moment to react as his first opponent knocked him back to get to his partner. Desperate to end the fight before Natsume used up any more of his life force on his Alice, Mikan launched herself at the time-tripper as the girl muttered words to herself.

"Feudal Japan, Feudal Japan, Feudal Japan." The time-tripper muttered to herself as Mikan released the room from her Alice. "Feudal Japan, Feudal Japan, Feudal Japan."

**End Note:**

So do you see where this is headed? I plan to post the next chapter very, very soon. I just thought this would be an awkward place to continue. It's less of a first chapter than a prologue, I guess you could say. Especially since I plan on switching main characters. xD I'm not too fond of Mikan myself. But yeah, this was basically just to give you guys an idea of the basic story line, of the whos and whats and hows, etc. The real story starts next time.

xxDusty


	2. Lost

**Chapter 2: Lost  
**Fidgeting, how could they say such a thing? He was not fidgeting in anticipation; Kagome's scheduled return was not the reason for his ants--that was, if he had any for them to complain about and kick him out for having in the first place. Yes, because he wasn't antsy, not in the least. He wasn't exited about Kagome coming back, not at all. She had been gone three days now, only three and a half days, although she'd said she'd be done in exactly three--not that he was counting, and not that he had been really paying attention anyway. He was just impatient to get on with his revenge. They couldn't go without Kagome, after all. And she always took her sweet time on the other side. When was she coming ba--

Inuyasha sat up straight, suddenly alert, topaz eyes focused on the Bone Eater's well. Someone was in there, but by the scent (as he just happened to be facing downwind), it was not the person he had not been waiting for. There were two distinctly different scents, both unfamiliar and both clouded by the smell of smoke. He was on his feet in a moment, clawed hands braced against the edge of the well as he peered down into the artificial gloom.

Children: there were two children at the bottom of the well. One of them looked odd, but at least she looked like a familiar kind of odd. Her skin was sickly pale and her pitch hair lank and dull, the stark contrast like unrefined oil over ice. Her kimono was odd too, the fabric darker than the night sky and just as expansive. Although it was already slightly too large for her, the color, or lack thereof, made it seem as if the cloth was swallowing her whole, making the cloth seem more alive than the girl herself. She didn't appear too lively herself, though, her pale, grey-lavender eyes fluttering shut as she gasped weakly for air.

The second child seemed to be doing much better off than the first. There was a healthy color in her cheeks, and though she was unconscious, she looked like she was going to be fine. Her light brown pigtails, though, explained the scent of fire. One side seemed singed. However, although she seemed the one who was better for wear, she was the odd one of the pair. Her clothes were extremely outlandish, with her short, red and black checked skirt that was so short it was indecent, and her white short sleeved collared shirt and red tie. Despite the fact that her clothes were so odd, they looked vaguely familiar as if he'd seen something like them before. It looked kinda like…

The sickly looking child convulsed in pain, and Inuyasha put his speculations on the side. Strange as these kids were, they looked like they were in trouble. He couldn't just leave them there like that. Even he wasn't so callous. Carefully, he leaped down to the bottom of the well, throwing the healthy looking girl over his shoulder before he moved to pick up the second one. However, she stirred as he sat her up, eyes hazy with pain as they flickered open.

"Where…?" She asked hoarsely, taking in a shallow breath before she broke into a coughing fit, covering her mouth with her hands. When she was done, her fingers came away bloody.

"Hey, easy kid." Inuyasha carefully eased the girl into his arms, brow creased with worry. Doing his best not to jostle the child, he quickly returned to the village. Luckily, Miroku, Sango, Shippou, and Kaede were already there because the child only seemed to be doing worse by the time he got there.

"She doesn't look like she's gonna make it." Miroku looked up from where he and Kaede were looking over the girl. They didn't know what was wrong, though, and they couldn't treat the internal illness. "The herb paste on her chest will help her breathe, but--" He paused to help the girl sit up as her stomach contracted and she heaved out a thick fluid into the basin the monk held waiting. "--she's been vomiting blood. The injuries inside her body must be severe."

Sango looked over at the sickly child from the healthy one. She, at least, seemed alright, suffering only from minor abrasions and burns. "They are both so young. They cannot be more than ten."

"And I found them in the Bone-Eater's Well." Inuyasha added, not liking the mystery of it all.

The room fell silent, the sick gurgling of the dark haired girl the only noise in the small hut. "She's coming to." Sango announced as the brown haired girl's eyes fluttered open, breaking the silence. Suddenly, all attention was focused on the brown haired child for the first time since they'd been discovered.

xxx

Groaning, Mikan rubbed the large lump on her head, blinking several times before, with someone's help, she sat up. Her vision was still blurred as she rose into consciousness, so she took in her surroundings with her other senses. Wood smoke, earth, and strong herbs invaded her senses, but somehow, the air seemed altogether cleaner on a base level. It wasn't just country air, it was...

"She's awake!" Came a voice, male, of someone younger than her. She felt little hands on her leg and a blurry figure crossed her eyes as she blinked a little more, her vision focusing on a little red-haired boy. Though he was a stranger, he seemed concerned.

"Ask her, her name." Said the handsome young man dressed in dark robes.

"Sakura." She supplied groggily. Her head was aching. "Sakura Mikan."

"Sakura-san?" The woman helping her to sit up asked, "We found you and another girl in the Bone-Eater's Well. Do you remember what happened? Are you alone?"

"Bone-Eater?" Mikan repeated as her eyes drifted over the faces. What strange people, they were dressed in such old fashioned clothes. The white-haired one looked especially weird. Why was she...?

It came back to her in a flash. She had been on a mission for the elementary school principal and she'd tackled their target, a pale young time-tripper. She remembered a tug on her pig-tail, but that feeling had disappeared sometime during their trip through the time-stream. Beginning to become a little frantic, Mikan looked around the room once more. White hair, grandmother, young man, young woman, little boy...

"Natsume?" She asked, not finding her partner. Mission forgotten, she began to feel panicked. Had he made it through alright? Was he hurt after the battle? "Where is Natsume?"

**Author's Note:  
**Chapter two! Betchya didn't think it'd come that fast, did you? Anywho, I suppose I still haven't really revealed most of the plot yet. That's coming soon, hopefully. What do you guys think? Please review. Thanks to Pan, my editor. Next time we'll find Natsume!

**Language Note:  
**When I learned to romanize Japanese characters, I learned that the "ou" sound was written as "oo." So for example, as opposed to writing "youkai" I would write "yookai." However, as the former version is the most popular, I will write out the long "o" sound as "ou."


	3. Burned

**Chapter 3: Burned**  
She was gone. Somehow during their trip into the past, she'd slipped from his fingers and now she was all alone with that pathetic excuse for a time-tripper. Luckily, they'd only been separated as they'd exited the time stream and entered into the past, so he was fairly sure he was in the right time period. He would be able to find her, or so he hoped.

Stubborn as ever, Natsume got to his feet. He'd taken enough of a breather; he needed to get down to finding Sakura. Even though his body was aching from using his Alice so much at the start of their mission, he forced it to move as he started his way through the forest he'd found himself in upon waking. It was a very strange place. The air was different here, it smelled fresher, like it lacked… humanity. It wasn't just wholesome; it was clean. However, despite the purity of the nature surrounding him, he didn't feel safe. It was almost as if someone was watching him.

Although he was cautious, he appeared uncaring as he made his way through the forest, trying to find his way out. It was really no surprise to him when something stirred in the brush behind him when he exited the forest and entered a clearing occupied by an old well. Braced for a fight, he turned around to find a cute little fox kit slip out of the brush. Scowling at his own paranoia, Natsume was about to roll his eyes at the other kits and the mother fox that ran out of the bushes after it, but his self-mocking disappeared a moment as what looked to be a mantis the size of a tree leaped into the clearing. At that point, that mocking returned at full force as the creature lashed out at he furry family.

He didn't know what the hell he was getting himself into as he lashed out at the giant insect with his Alice, the squeals of the foxes in his ears bringing Ruka's face to his mind. No, he wasn't the hero. Even as he tried to help the helpless creatures, they were scorched by the flames he employed to help him. As always, his Alice was acting as a double-edged blade. The self-mocking was turning again into self-loathing as he saw the family escape into the brush. Only two of the three kits had made it. The third was caught in the smoke.

A flash of movement caught his eye as the creature, outraged, screeched, frantic as it tried to put out the fire consuming one of its jaggedly bladed limbs. And then, bizarrely, it spoke. "What is this, human? I will devour you whole instead!"

"Shut up." He retaliated, lashing out again with his Alice. The blast of flame did not stop the mantis, though, which came at him full-force. His eyes widened as he, panicked, set off another round of fire. Even then, the creature slashed at him with its remaining scythe, slicing his shoulder deep. However, that seemed to be the limit of the bug's power, and when Natsume unleashed the power of his Alice again, the thing dropped to the ground and writhed as the flames consumed it. He couldn't bring himself to leave the thing as he tore at his shirt and bandaged his shoulder, though it was a clumsy, one-handed process.

He'd used his Alice so much and with such force that he felt like he was going to collapse when the bug stopped its screeching and died. Brows pinched, he stepped forward to the bush where the thing had emerged. The injured fox-kit had been abandoned in all the violence and confusion, and it yipped weakly at him as he bent, seeing where the slash over its eye and the burn on its flank. Guilt slammed into him at the sight of both its injuries, and it was Ruka's face that flashed through his mind as he bandaged the thing up as best as he could.

The sudden sharp pain in his hand was unsurprising as the little ball of fuzz sank its teeth into his flesh. He swore, but held the thing close to his body without first prying the kit's jaws open. He deserved it, anyway. He wasn't entirely sure what he was doing trying to help the little beast anyway; he would only hurt it more. But he couldn't leave it alone. It had only gotten caught in the crossfire, no pun intended. He couldn't leave it to die.

Natsume turned around, preparing to leave, but a loud thump behind him had him spinning on his heel, cursing as he set his Alice loose at the bright yellow object that had suddenly appeared in the edge of the well. A moment later, the reality of the scene registered in his mind as he recognized the offending object as a backpack and the female scream of surprise, outrage, and fear registered in his ears. That and the name, in the same feminine voice, "Inuyasha!"

Scowling, he narrowed his eyes on the well. Someone had been in there the entire time? The woman was probably responsible for the freak of a creature that had attacked him. What kind of Alice did she have? "What are you doing?" He demanded. This was bad, his vision was fading. He'd used his Alice way too much before he'd been flung into the time-stream, and more than that, his arm was useless and the wound was deep. He loosing way too much blood because he couldn't bandage it properly on his own, and even then his bandage was a haphazard one. There was really nothing left of his shirt.

"What are you doing?" He demanded again, holding the kit a little tighter as it struggled weakly against him. The thing couldn't survive on its own. "Who are you?"

The voice was faint, and the words muffled. The coward was at the bottom of the well. Cautiously, he went over to the open wooden box, carefully avoiding the burning backpack. Schooling his features because he was sure the light dizzy feeling in his head was showing on his expression, he looked down into the darkness.

A middle, maybe high school student at most, she wore a modern green uniform. Her hair was worn down past her shoulders, and she had pressed her back to the darkest corner of the well. She couldn't have been from the feudal era. Shit, he'd gotten lost in the time. He wasn't where he was supposed to be, and that meant Mikan was all alone. Unless this girl had been sent here to wait for their ambush by the people the elementary school principal had sent them after.

"Who are you?" She shot back at him.

Like he was going to answer her. She was the one who was cornered. "Who sent you?"

"What?" She must have been a good actress, because she seemed extremely confused. "I don't know what you're talking about. Nobody sent me!"

"Liar."

She gave a feminine shriek as the end of her hair caught fire and she quickly batted it out. "I don't know what you--Stop!" Frantically, she pulled her shirt over her head as the end caught fire too quickly for her to extinguish.

"You attacked me with that bug. Where are you keeping Sakura?" Before he could threaten her with more flames, Natsume suddenly found himself with his feet dangling in the air. The breath was expelled from his lungs as someone struck his wounded shoulder, sending him sprawling. He turned as he fell so he wouldn't crush the kit in his arms, landing on his wound. Gasping, he forced himself to sit up.

His vision was blurring with the pain, but he could see his attacker well enough, his gaudy white hair loose and as long--no, longer than the girl's. Maybe he was in the past, especially judging by the clothes the man was wearing, although the bright red fabric caught his attention as much as the white hair did. The weirdest thing about him, though, were the dog ears atop his head and the scabbard belted to his hip. An animal Alice? Like that other girl in his class.

"What are you doing to Kagome?" The dog-eared one seemed upset. Comrades, then. Bad sign. "Tell me now, kid."

"As if I'd tell you, dog-breath." Although he knew he was overdoing it, he gathered his strength and willed the man's red kimono to burst into flame. His eyes widened, though, as the fabric simply… didn't. Shit. There wasn't much he could do as the man came at him again, knocking him over the head with his fist.

"Listen, squirt--" The man began, but yelped, leaping back as the ground exploded into flame a moment before the fire extinguished. "What the hell? You may be a kid, but if you don't stop acting like a brat I'm gonna--"

"What did you do with Sakura?" Natsume interrupted as his mind started to shut down, his body screaming. He'd lost way too much blood, and the pain was making his vision go spotty. "If you hurt her, I'm…" He faltered as the world tipped on it side. "I'll kill you." He managed to get out before the spots in his eyes expanded and the darkness consumed him. It was only just before he fell out of consciousness that he realized that the fox kit he'd saved had stopped moving.

**Author's Note:  
**Here's Natsume! I know I've been updating kinda quickly, but that's only because the chapters are really short-ish, although they seem to be steadily getting longer as I go. Does that mean I'm gaining experience? I tried to include more dialogue in this one so that it's more interesting than the others, but as I was writing the scene with the mantis I realized that Natsume really doesn't say much…

Anyway, thanks for reading! I'll update soon. Next time will be the introductions and I hope to be able to include a little more of the plot. Expositions are always so boring to write and read. But what do you guys think so far? Please review, etc. Thanks again to those who've been reading, and thanks to Pan, my editor. It's very encouraging to know that people are reading my first "real" fanfic, as I've been told my other was a little unorthodox.

xxDusty


	4. Teddy Bears

**Author's Note:**  
Hey, sorry it's been so long. As you will probably be able to tell, I struggled through this chapter. Good news is, though, I'll be publishing a lot more regularly now that this part is out of the way. I hate writing scenes like this, I just never know what to say. Thank you to those who're reading. Your comments are greatly appreciated, especially those telling me to get my act together and finish this fanfic. Anywho, without further delay, chapter four...

* * *

He woke up midway through a fit of coughing, tasting the blood in his mouth as he curled up onto his side. Immediately a hand moved to his back, soothing him until his frame was still. However, it wasn't the gentle pats that eased his mind; it was the little frantic shout from Sakura that calmed him. So she was safe and well. That was good. That was really good.

"Natsume!"

She sounded distressed, and for a moment he almost let himself pretend that she worried about him in a special way, that he hadn't heard that same tone voiced toward Andou, or Ruka, You-chan, and even that pedophile Narumi. Of course, he quashed that almost thought as soon as it appeared at the threshold of his mind.

"Natsume, are you alright?"

Her hands came to rest on his shoulder as he opened his eyes, drawing his hand away from his mouth and surreptitiously smearing them on his pants. She couldn't know how weak using his Alice like this made him. He was so weak it was pathetic. And he thought he could protect her?

"No, oh no, Natsume, don't sit up. You're hurt. You need to let it heal." Sakura protested as he tried to sit up, pushing him back down onto the mat he was lying on.

"Teddy bears." He observed, making Sakura squeal, blush, and put her hands between her legs, effectively closing her skirt. He didn't need a mind reading Alice to know what words would come out of her mouth next.

"Natsume, you pervert!" She yelled, standing up and running to one of the incredulous young women in the hut. "Now I'll—"

"—Never get married." Natsume finished, rolling his eyes. "Shut up, teddy bears."

As usual, he ignored the rest of her sputtering, using one hand to push himself up into an upright position. Scooting back, he sat against the wall. The rough texture of it against his back made him look down, and he saw that he was bare from the waist up but for the fresh bandage they'd anchored around his chest and wound tightly over his shoulder. It made it difficult to move that half of his body, but he was grateful for the fact that they'd redone the pathetic bandage. Unfortunately, he couldn't even ask for his shirt back as what was left of it wasn't even worth wearing. They'd bandaged up his hand, too, from where the fox had bitten him.

Crossing his arms over his chest, keeping the wounded one closer to his body, he looked up. Sakura was busy crying into the arms of a girl dressed in modern clothes. His eyes widened as he took in the singed tips of her hair. She was the one who'd attacked him! And the old, no, young man sitting in the corner cradling a sword. His eyes narrowed. He had business with—

"Whoa there, Hyuuga-san." A young man in dark robes jumped in front of him, spreading out his arms. He must have recognized the malice in his gaze. "There's been a misunderstanding. Sakura-chan explained everything. We don't want to hurt you."

"Tch." Brown eyes narrowed further. Trust was a foreign thing to him. Unlike Sakura, he wasn't gullible. "Maybe I want to hurt you."

He might have said something more, but his eyes lit on a slumbering form beside him. It was a little ball of red-orange fuzz, bandaged around its eye and ear. And it was breathing. Relief washed through him. So, he had done something right after all. He couldn't help but reach down and pick up the tiny, helpless creature, setting it down in his lap.

"Azuki told me what happened, and I explained it a little for him so that he would understand you were helping him. He's very grateful to you." Said the little boy sitting in the corner. His hair was the same color as the fox kit's, and he seemed to have a tail and fox feet. Another animal Alice? "Do you like the name? Sakura-chan thought of it because he's so tiny."

Natsume found himself caught a little off-guard. They didn't seem like bad people, and there were Alices among them. They'd even helped him. If they'd been enemies, he'd either be locked up or left for dead by now. So no, he didn't trust them, but he would rely on them for a little longer.

After a short awkward silence, one of the women spoke up. "Sakura-chan, why don't you go over and explain things to your friend?"

Sakura, who was still sniffling into the modern girl's chest, shook her head and made a sound that might have been an attempt at the word, "No!"

The woman sighed before she laid a hand over her chest. "Alright, I'll do it then. My name is Sango, I'm a demon slayer. That's Miroku," dark robes, "he's a monk. Kagome," singed hair, "a priestess. Kaede," old lady, "also a priestess. Shippou," red kid, "a fox demon. And Inuyasha," pissy old man hair, "a dog demon."

Weird.

"Inuyasha found Sakura-chan at the bottom of the Bone-Eater's Well with another girl, who isn't doing so well." The monk, Miroku started, sitting back down. "She said you need her to get back to your own time. She also said that before you can go to your own time, you need something called an Alice stone?"

He shot a glare at Mikan. So, they knew everything? He supposed there was no harm in clarifying now, seeing as their time-tripper was dying and they needed to return home before she died. Somehow. And if they wanted to help out some poor, wounded kids, that was fine with him. It gave him more leverage when it came to protecting Sakura. "It's the source of an Alice's power. There is a very powerful one in your time, but you're too stupid to know what it is. You call it a jewel."

Miroku nodded, ignoring the imbedded insult skillfully. "The Shikon no Tama, the jewel of four souls. You need it to return home. I'm afraid, however, that your assumptions are wrong. The jewel is not a product of one of your Alices. Sakura-chan explained it to me, and her description does not fit. She says Alice stones are made up of the power of one person. The Shikon jewel is the product of two hearts melded into one by enormous spiritual power. It is not what you think it is. Your trip was for nothing."

Natsume frowned—Or at least, Natsume frowned more deeply than usual. No. It was an Alice stone. "How do you know so much about it?" He asked blandly.

"We—Sango, Kagome, Shippou, Inuyasha, and I—are searching for it." Miroku responded, then went on to say, "Or at least, we are trying to find the shards of it before it falls into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, the few we had were stolen."

His eyes widened, the disbelief striking him at the implication. "It's broken?" His eyes scanned the faces in the room for an answer, finding one sheepish looking priestess looking at the top of Sakura's head. "You broke it?!"

"Well I... I'm trying to fix it." Kagome muttered, slightly defensive.

Natsume closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall. Not only was their time-tripper dying, but the Alice stone—which apparently wasn't even an Alice stone in the first place—was shattered into tiny little shards. Things couldn't get any worse.

As if in reaction to the almost despairing frustration that washed over him, Azuki stirred in his lap. He reached out, letting the kit nuzzle his hand. It yawned, and he watched it crawl over to put its front paws on his chest. But then it sat back down in his lap, whining a bit as its tail wrapped around its legs and its ears flattened. Wha…?

Natsume groaned as he realized that the kit was still too young and untrained to have complete bladder control. Yeah. Just when he'd thought things were starting to get just a little better.

* * *

**Language note:  
**Azuki beans are tiny little black beans. I personally don't really like them, but I thought the name was cute.

**End Note:**  
And it ends with a dose of karma. Silly pervert gets peed on. Anywho, thank you for reading, it's the only thing that gives me motivation to keep writing because I am laaaazy. I'll have Pan read through it later, so just so you know, it's not been edited yet for spelling and grammar and stuff. When it comes to editing my own stuff, I'm downright craptastic. I just wanted to get this up as fast as possible for you guys.

xxDusty


	5. Under Water

**Chapter 5: Under Water**

He needed some time to think. The children's appearance complicated things, and the last thing they needed was a complication. All it meant was there were two more people looking for the jewel, two more people with an arsenal of innocents at their disposal. Now there could only be more blood, sweat, and tears shed over the Shikon jewel. The battle would last even longer.

Sighing heavily, Miroku closed his eyes. Children. How were they supposed to fight children? What kind of low-life sent ten-year-olds to do their bidding. Too many times he'd seen the darkest facets of humanity, too many times he'd born witness to greed inconceivable, to narcissism unfathomable, to violence unspeakable, but again he found himself disbelieving as he was forced to face another crime of the human spirit. The worst part of it was, although he and the others would struggle with the ethical implications of fighting children who were only fighting themselves to defend their friends and families, Naraku would have no such qualms when it came to fending off the very same adversaries. No, he would strike them down without a second thought, reduce them to smoldering mounds of flesh, or something even more appalling. The possibilities were nauseating.

Looking up, he watched Shippou and Mikan chase each other over the bridge, Azuki on the girl's shoulder. Natsume was a more sober child, sitting in the same tree Inuyasha often favored. They were just kids, and yet in both of their eyes he could see the way the adults in their lives had hurt them. Did they know any they could trust, or had they too betrayed the innocence those eyes no longer radiated? Either way, they…

Miroku was suddenly up on his feet as the water erupted around the bridge, and the children, who were leaning over the edge, were engulfed by the sudden burst.

"Mikan!"

"Inuyasha! Sango!" Miroku called, then looked up just in time to see Natsume leap from the tree. "No!" He shouted, dashing forward, arms outstretched. He crashed into Natsume, breaking his fall.

"Get off of me you stupid… Sakura!" In a moment, the fire Alice was up on his feet and running toward the river.

Miroku groaned, pushing himself up with his staff. It was a vision of horror he should have been used to. A great serpentine dragon rose from the water—No, it was a dragon formed of water that was only slightly darker than the rest of the river. The bed was almost dry, the water seeming to have been sucked up into the enormous creature. It would have been a beautiful sight, its body an intricately fluid design of scales, but sliding down its throat were Shippou and Mikan, her hands clutched to their throats as they drowned.

"What _is_ that?" Kagome demanded behind him. Inuyasha bounded past, followed by Kirara and Sango. Spurred forward by his comrade's presence, he charged forward with him.

"I don't know but it has Shippou and Sakura-chan." Miroku replied, reaching into his robes, flinging a trio of sutra scrolls at the beast as Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga. He hoped the sword would be more useful than his sutras, which were simply melted away by the water. "We need to be careful, but we need to be quick. They're drowning."

"Sakura!"

Suddenly, the great serpent hissed as a cloud of steam rose from its side. It cleared to reveal a chunk had been evaporated away by Natsume's fire, but it quickly glossed over and disappeared. Immediately, the fire Alice tore more chunks out of the dragon, but it was no use; so long as there was water in the river, it would continue regenerating. They had to find the source.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango's cry sounded as she launched the demonic weapon at the dragon. It did little more than slice through the water, however.

"Damn it!" Inuyasha's attack proved ineffective, too.

Miroku paused, watching as a bubble of air formed around the now still children. Were they alive, or just unconscious? He didn't have time to think about that that. He had to find the… It was then that he spotted it. A giant wasp was flying overhead, its great eyes following the whole scene. No. "Naraku!" He shouted, pointing up. The rest of the gang looked to where he pointed.

But they weren't the only ones to hear him. The water dragon swiveled its head to face him, jaws opening as it hissed again. Then, all of a sudden it began melting back into the water and taking Shippou, Mikan, and Azuki with it.

Natsume ran forward, diving in as the dragon disintegrated with a splash. "No, Hyuuga-san, it's not dead yet!" Miroku shouted, dashing forward, but Inuyasha was faster.

"No, kid, it'll eat you too!" But as it seemed, Inuyasha couldn't take his own advice, and he dived in after the boy. Either way, it was too late. The dragon fled down the river faster than they could ever hope to travel in the water or on land, Naraku's new hostages safe in its belly.

"Sakura! Let me go, I need to go get Sakura!" Natsume protested, struggling and sputtering as Inuyasha dragged him out of the water. Then, before anyone could stop him, Natsume pistoned his heel directly between Inuyasha's legs. He was promptly dropped as the demon swore and sank to his knees, glaring as Kagome rushed to his side.

Miroku stopped him before he could get too far, whacking him on the head with his staff. "Stop, don't be hasty. Your wounds have opened up again."

It was true; Natsume's bandages were a faded red at the shoulder, his dip in the river having spread the blood thin. But the kid didn't give a damn. "I need to save Sakura. Now let me go!"

Miroku was smart enough to dodge the flames that suddenly appeared at his feet. "Don't be so foolish. We'll save her, it has our friend too, but if we go rushing in, you'll collapse before we even find them."

Natsume glared daggers at him, obviously not enthused by the fact that he was being told, by an adult, what to do. "I need to save her."

Suddenly, Kirara landed at the boy's side. Sango extended a hand, offering him a hand up. "And you will. But you can't just charge in. Get on."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thank you so much for reading. So I know it's short, and I know it's kinda bleh, but I figured I'd waited long enough to start the plot. xP Sorry for the major procrastination. I just figured I might as well give you guys a double since it's been a long time since I've published anything. Also, my usual editor is busy, so she'll help me check this over later. Until then, there might be some minor stuff going on that I didn't catch. Please tell me what you think! I would love some friendly, constructive critisism. x3

Next time, we meet our first real OC as Naraku tries again to kill Inuyasha and the gang!

xxDusty


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